The Palace Hotel in San Francisco is quite a town in itself, containing
as it does over a thousand rooms, and with rarely less than a thousand
inhabitants, including servants, only a limited number of the latter,
however, living in the house. The establishment has its own gas-works,
four artesian wells, affording an abundant supply of the purest water; it
also possesses a thoroughly good fire-brigade, and an efficient system of
police. There are five hydraulic lifts for the conveyance of guests and
luggage to each floor of the house. The rooms on the ground floor are
25ft. high, and of corresponding size, the breakfast room being 110ft. by
53ft., the dining room 150ft. by 55ft., the walls being hung with
excellent copies of the best works of the great masters. The corridors
are lined and paved with white marble, and the grand staircase is of the
same material.
The bedrooms are very large and airy, and they all have comfortable
dressing-rooms attached, with hot and cold water supply, and with a dozen
beautiful towels--a very refreshing sight to the voyager who has been
cooped up for the previous month in the limited space allotted to
passengers on an ocean steamer. The bedrooms have baths adjoining them,
each bath being arranged for two rooms; there is also a service-room on
each landing, where a dusky negro is always in attendance. Upon each
landing there is a tube for the conveyance of letters for the post direct
into the letter-box at the general office. There is also a pneumatic
despatch-tube for the conveyance of messages and parcels to and from any
point on the different floors. Upon the garden floor of the hotel there
is an arcade promenade 12ft. wide, with entrances to all the shops under
the hotel, upon the street level, each shop having a show window upon
this promenade. There are three inner courts, the centre one being
140ft. by 84ft., covered with glass of the same height as the roof of the
hotel. It has a carriage and promenade entrance from the street of 44ft.
in width, and a circular carriage way of 54ft. in diameter, which is
surrounded by a marble-tiled promenade and a tropical garden. The garden
is well supplied with exotic plants, statuary, and fountains. Around
this centre court and upon every storey there is an open gallery from
which all the bedrooms are entered, and from which they receive light and
fresh air. The dining rooms are fitted with a large number of small
tables for parties of from four to eight persons, an arrangement very
much superior to the long tables in most _salles a manger_.
There are about four hundred waiters, one-fourth only being white men,
the rest negroes. The latter seem specially adapted for waiting, being
active and nimble, and seeming to anticipate every wish. They receive 1
per week wages and their board, but lodge away from the house. A fresh
bill of fare is printed daily for each meal, and the variety of food is
very great, there being a choice of about seventy dishes at dinner. In
the kitchen are twenty-seven French cooks, besides assistants--a
sufficient guarantee for the excellent manner in which the food is
prepared.
There is a splendid laundry in the house, where the washing is done by
fifty Chinese washer_men_, and certainly never was linen more exquisitely
got up than here. These Celestials are specially successful in all kinds
of starching requiring a smooth polished surface, such as shirt fronts.
The mode in which they apply the starch is quite novel, for having taken
a mouthful they blow it out on to the article in a continuous fine spray,
while their hands are occupied in ironing.
The servants take their meals in _table d'hote_ fashion, being waited on
by a batch of their fellow servants, and everything is conducted with the
greatest possible regularity and order. I was much pleased to find that
all the gas and water fittings, also the hydraulic lifts and pumps, were
supplied by English makers, and were such as to command the admiration of
everybody.
An American gentleman, hearing me speak of the hotel, asked me how I
liked it? I told him I was greatly delighted with it; that it was a
palace, indeed, in all its arrangements, but that in one respect I had
been not a little astonished at what I had seen there--the presence of
the extreme of civilisation face to face with a very close approach to
barbarism. "How is that," said he. "Why," I replied, "you are only
supplied with one knife and fork at meals; each guest has to dip his
fishy knife into the butter, and the same process has to be gone through
in taking salt and mustard; and seeing it is the fashion amongst the
American guests to put the knife into their mouths, the idea is not
pleasant."
I referred, too, to another peculiarity of the Americans arising, I
believe, from their extensive use of the Virginian weed in chewing, and I
said that the guests at the Palace Hotel, in passing through its marble
halls, had not the same excuse for their conduct that the old Greek
philosopher had when he was being shown over the palace by Croesus, and
when he excused himself for an unparalleled act of rudeness by saying
"that such was the magnificence on every hand that the face of the king
was the meanest thing that presented itself," for the proprietor of the
hotel had made the most ample provision for the national habit--a
provision which was, however, very generally disregarded.
The city of San Francisco is exceedingly well situated, and possesses
many handsome streets, extensive hotels, and public buildings, but in
none of these respects, save only in hotels, is it equal to Melbourne,
though the evidences of great business activity and prosperity are much
greater in the former city.
The day after I arrived at the hotel I was surprised at receiving the
following letter:--"Dear Tangye,--Should you wish to see me I am to be
found at the above address, or a letter addressed to me, Box 339, Post
Office, will reach me promptly. My wife is dead. A. J. C. Jarratt."
The name was quite strange to me, so I decided _not_ to go, but to send a
friend. My friend found the address, which was a wretched room at the
top of a lofty pile of buildings, and after a few minutes' conversation
with the man he saw there, was very glad to get into the street again,
not liking the aspect of things. The following day, whilst seated at
dinner with my friends, a waiter came to us and asked which was Dr. L--.
On being told, he said a messenger from the chief of police was in
waiting, wishing to see him. I looked at the doctor and asked him what
he had been doing. Having finished our dinner we adjourned to the office
and found the officer, who said his chief had received a telegram from a
man in some town a hundred miles inland requesting him to send "his
friend the Doctor" up to him as soon as possible. Of course my friend,
knowing nothing whatever of the man, declined to go up country. I
mentioned these polite attentions to a gentleman who was dining at the
same table, and who I found was the leading lawyer in the city. He told
me it was a favourite dodge with the sharpers, and that they sometimes
caught a "flat" in this way. On the arrival of ocean steamers it is the
custom to publish the names of the passengers in the evening papers,
which accounts for the familiarity of these fellows with the names of
strangers. We had many amusing chats with this lawyer. He remarked one
day that I must have met with a deal of "character" in travelling.
"Yes," I said, "I had, both good and bad." "Wa-a-l, I guess its better
to meet with a _bad_ character than none at all." Speaking of the
neighbouring State of Nevada, which was still in a very unsettled
condition, he said a friend of his was Governor there, and that he "was
6ft. 6in. in height, and had a number three head and a number fifteen
foot, for," said he, "I guess weight of foot is more important there than
weight of brain."
There are sharp men of business in the city who do not require offices in
which to carry on their business. If you are walking in the streets with
a friend, and, meeting someone else, stop for a chat, you will see a
'cute-looking fellow stop, and though he appears to be intent on
something on the opposite side of the street, you will note that he is
leaning his ear towards you, doubtless with the laudable intention of
gaining a little information. On one occasion we met one of these
individuals. He kept his ear open, and then struck in with "I guess you
are going through to England. I can put you up to the best way of doing
it and calculate I can save you from forty to fifty dollars on the job."
We say we are much obliged, and will perhaps "call again." Then as you
proceed along the streets attenuated fellows, with scanty, pointed beards
and Mother Shipton hats, accost you with "Going east, gentlemen? Guess
you'll want to change some money. Come with me, gentlemen, and I'll take
you to the right place." "Thank you," we say, "not to-day." "Wa-a-l,
guess exchange will go against you to-morrow, gentlemen." Observing on
the door of a very handsome house a brass name-plate with the name "Mrs.
Doctor Sanders," our guide informed us that there were many lady doctors
in the city, and that they had very extensive practice.
The Chinese are very numerous in San Francisco, there being more than
40,000 of them there. At the time of my visit, the feeling of the
rowdies ran very high against the Celestials, and threats of wholesale
massacre were freely used against them. John Chinaman is a most
industrious, frugal man, spending very little upon his living, and
nothing upon his pleasures, always excepting his infatuation for opium.
His needs being few, he can afford to work for very small pay, and thus
comes into competition with the white workman. This is the head and
front of his offending, but it is aggravated by the fact of his being
equally skilful as an artificer. While the artisans have their special
grievances about the Chinese, the wealthy classes have theirs also. It
is true "John" does his master's work well and cheaply, but, as I have
said before, he is not a spending man; his sole object is to get what the
Yankees call "his little pile" as quickly as possible, and then return to
his native land. Nor is this surprising when we consider that every
Chinaman leaves his little "Min-ne" behind him when he quits the Flowery
Land, it being a very rare thing for a woman to leave China.
The Chinese quarter is full of interest; the people swarm like bees, and
live in a frightfully overcrowded state. The butchers' and barbers'
shops are the most numerous and most interesting, the former being filled
with a quantity of dreadful-looking little portions of meat, but it would
puzzle the most learned to say from what animal they were cut. The
barbers' shops are situated in the basements of the houses, with an open
front towards the street, and they are very numerous, for the Chinese are
close shavers. On looking down you may see a number of men seated in a
variety of positions, each one smoking a pipe of opium, while the barber
is occupied in shaving every portion of his head and face, excepting, of
course, his beloved pig-tail. The swell Chinee is very particular that
every hair shall be removed, and so clever do the operators become that,
by means of tiny razors, they can shave the inside of the nose. Some of
the pig-tails are of enormous length, and sometimes the white rowdies
attack the Chinese and cut their pig-tails off.
[Picture: The Chinaman (from a sketch by the Author)]
When a man has an especially fine one, he either rolls it up at the back
of his head and fastens it with hairpins, or else tucks it inside his
blouse. I noticed one of the latter in particular, a glimpse of which
would have delighted Darwin himself. The owner had evidently let down
his back hair before putting on his blouse, and consequently the
pig-tail, which disappeared at the back of the neck, emerged from under
the blouse and extended to his heels.
Some of our party, wishing to explore the Chinese quarter by night,
engaged a detective to accompany them, it being unsafe to go unless so
escorted. The guide first took them over a lodging house, in which some
hundred Chinamen were stowed away, literally almost as thick as herrings
in a barrel. Not only was the floor thickly covered, but suspended above
it was a layer in hammocks, some smoking opium and others sleeping, none,
however, taking the slightest notice of the intruding party.
[Picture: Little Min-ne]
On visiting the Chinese theatre during the evening they found
preparations being made to celebrate a Celestial wedding. This decided
them to stay and see the ceremony, which was attended by a vast number of
Chinese, the theatre being crowded in every part. After the ceremony
most of the spectators formed in the procession, which escorted the happy
pair to their home. My friends also visited the Joss Houses and
inspected the queer-looking gods contained in them.
While making some purchases in a Chinese shop it was necessary to give my
address. I wrote it out on a card thus--TANG-YE, upon which the
Celestial at once claimed me as a countryman of his. I disabused his
mind of that idea by putting my fingers to the outer corners of my eyes
and pretending to extend them in an upward direction, the absence of
which peculiarity showed conclusively that I was not of the true Mongol
type. Curiously, however, on afterwards consulting a gazetteer, I found
that there is in China a city named TANG-Y, containing over 30,000
inhabitants.
The Chinese are accused of having brought with them a number of
objectionable practices, but to anyone possessing a knowledge of the
lower classes in American cities, it will not appear possible that the
Chinese can be very much worse than they.
Most of the traffic in San Francisco is carried on by the tramways, and
it may not be out of place to put intending visitors on their guard with
respect to a little peculiarity in their management. It is advisable to
tender the exact fare if possible, for if you give a larger sum the
balance is returned to you, not in cash, but in tickets available for
future rides, which you may have no opportunity of taking. The hackney
carriages are very fine, being almost equal to English private carriages.
Most of those I saw were splendidly horsed with a pair of magnificent
animals, generally black. The lowest fare taken is ten shillings, but I
am bound to say you can have full value for your money in the time and
the accommodation given you.
On Sunday morning the city presents a very lively aspect. The
fire-brigades and volunteers parade the streets, preceded by their bands,
and thousands of people go by tramway and other vehicles to see the
famous sea-lions at the entrance to the bay. From the grounds in front
of Cliff House they are seen on the rocks below in large numbers,
tumbling about and making a noise like the barking of dogs, but so loud
as to be heard from a distance of nearly a mile.
The climate is a delightful one, the temperature being singularly
equable, ranging, as it does, in summer from 60 to 70, and in winter from
50 to 60 Fahr. Indeed the weather is so beautiful that one cannot help
referring to it frequently, but the invariable reply to any such
observation is, "Well, I guess we shall have three months just the same
right slick away."
[Picture: Seal Rocks, San Francisco]
After nearly a fortnight's stay at the Palace Hotel, enjoying its good
fare, we began to think it time to move eastward, as we were getting too
luxurious in our habits. My friend the lawyer, however, remarked that we
need have no fear on that account, as the fare on the Pacific Railway
would cure the severest attack of gout. Before leaving San Francisco we
met our old friend "Mister" twice. From a report in the newspapers we
learnt that he had been brought before the magistrates and fined for
carrying fire-arms in the streets. "Mister" told us the police had taken
all his money on the pretence of taking care of it for him. When we last
saw him he was leaning against a lamp-post, helplessly drunk.
[Picture: The Last of "Mister"]
The great excursion from San Francisco is of course to the Yosemite
Valley, but we were compelled to forego the pleasure of making it on
account of our visit being too early in the season. Some of our
fellow-voyagers from the Colonies ventured to go, but, unfortunately,
they met with a serious carriage accident, owing to the roughness of the
road, caused by the breaking up of the frost.
In order to secure a good seat in the train going East, it is necessary
to make arrangements a few days before starting. Tickets can be obtained
at a score of places in the city, and should be got as soon as possible;
and in order to save all unnecessary trouble with the luggage during the
journey, sufficient for use in travelling should be separately packed,
and the remainder handed over to the Baggage Master, who has an office in
the hotel, and who will give checks in exchange, and undertake to deliver
it at any hotel or railway station in New York, or any other place in the
States that may be named. By attending to this overnight, immense
trouble is saved, for, if left until the morning of departure, each
traveller has to look after his own baggage amid a scene of the wildest
confusion, and quite unprotected from the terrible heat and dust. It was
with a sense of great relief that we began to move out of the station,
and to feel that at last we were fairly started on our ride across the
Rocky Mountains. The railway ride for the first two hundred and fifty
miles is a splendid one, through the magnificent Sacramento Valley, which
I should think is fifteen or twenty miles wide, and is most fertile.
Here corn is grown year after year without any manuring being required.
In many "cuttings" through which we passed the soil was twenty feet deep.
We passed fields hundreds of acres in extent, with nice houses, orchards,
and gardens, surrounded by fine oaks and elms, making the country look
like a park for a hundred miles. The corn, which in many places was over
ten feet high, was fast ripening, and its glorious golden colour was
often charmingly varied by immense patches of Marigold, Eschscholtzia,
Lupins, and another beautiful flower which we did not recognise, all in
full bloom. We also saw our old Tasmanian friend the Eucalyptus
(commonly called the Gum Tree), and many of the quaint Dore-like dead
Blue Gums, looking white and ghostly.
[Picture: The Eucalyptus (from a sketch by the Author)]
This is a magnificent State. A gentleman remarked to me that when the
richness of the soil is exhausted there remains untold mineral wealth
below. The people, too, are very energetic, and there is abundance of
capital; so much so that a moneylender travelling in our carriage
complained that it is difficult to get fifteen per cent. per annum now
when some twelve years ago he could easily obtain five per cent. per
month.
Soon after leaving Sacramento the track ascends the mountains and passes
through the old gold-diggings so much spoken of thirty years ago. They
are visible all around for miles, and some are still being worked. All
the abandoned ones have been re-worked by the Chinese, who have got a
great deal out of them. By and by we stopped at a station where there
were several dreadful-looking Indians, some with their faces covered with
red ochre and with feathers in their hair; others dressed in scarlet
blankets, tall white hats, one-legged trousers and moccasins. They all
looked very grave and stolid. I did my best to make one old fellow laugh
as he stood on the platform with his arms folded, but his face was stony,
and he remained steadfast and unmoveable. Their hair is like whalebone,
matted and shaggy; their noses and mouths are broad, and the women look
uglier than the men. Several of the women were carrying their _papooses_
(babies) suspended over their shoulders, with the legs swathed like
Neapolitan children. The only occupation of these degraded creatures is
begging and stealing.
While we were passing through swampy tract the large bull-frogs were
giving a croaking concert in full chorus, and a rare noise they made.
Soon we began to sight the snow mountains, and by nine o'clock we were
right amongst the pine forests and the snow, and very beautiful the scene
looked with the moon shining on it all.
Life on board a "Pullman" train is almost more peculiar than life on
board ship. My party were fortunate enough to secure a cabin partitioned
off from the rest of the carriage; but the remainder of the sleeping
berths have no partitions, being separated merely by curtains.
Inexperienced travellers are apt to forget this, and sometimes cause much
amusement in consequence. One morning I heard a young lady complaining
to her mamma that she could not find her stockings, a remark eliciting
numerous offers of assistance from all parts of the carriage. A
neighbouring compartment was occupied by a lady and gentleman, the former
of whom was deaf, and with the peculiarity often observable in deaf
people, she imagined everyone else was deaf as well; the consequence
being that there were no secrets in that cabin. Every carriage has a
negro attendant, whose duty it is to make the beds and attend to the
lavatories, the ladies' and gentlemen's lavatories being at opposite ends
of the carriage. At half-past nine o'clock Sambo begins to prepare the
beds, and soon after ten almost everyone has retired, and, as fortunately
there are no decks to be paced, sleep soon comes to the weary.
Arrangements are made for three meals a day, the train stopping at
stations convenient for the purpose, and notice being given half-an-hour
before. Half-an-hour is allowed for each meal, the invariable charge
being one dollar. As the train stops a general stampede is made toward
the dining-room, the position of which is unmistakable, for at the door
stands a negro, with a face devoid of expression, vigorously sounding a
gong. As each person passes in he pays his dollar, and makes a rush to
the end of the room, where the cook is usually stationed. And now happy
is he who possesses the Yankee's qualification for a good diner-out, for
unless he has a long arm, a quick eye, and a silent tongue, he is likely
to come off with much less than a dollar's worth. The experienced
traveller, before sitting down, gathers all the dishes before him, within
arm's length, and then proceeds to attack them _seriatim_, or sometimes
all at once. Indeed, I think a man of naturally generous disposition,
would be made utterly selfish by twelve months' travelling on American
railroads. As soon as the half-hour has gone, the guard calls out with a
shrill, nasal, Yankee twang, "All aboard," and we once more continue our
journey.
Happening one day to say to a fellow-passenger that I was from
Birmingham, an American gentleman hearing me came across the carriage,
and, raising his hat, said: "I _must_ shake hands with a person coming
from the city which returns John Bright to Parliament."
The Pacific Railroad is a single track, and, although a wonderful
engineering work, is not by any means a substantial or
confidence-inspiring line, if judged by English standards. The rails are
old and worn, the bridges and viaducts very lightly constructed, and
almost always of wood. I observed in several cases that the carriages
were actually wider than the viaducts, many of which are open between the
rails. It is hardly to be wondered at that awful accidents sometimes
occur. The train in which we were travelling narrowly escaped falling
into a ravine 120 feet deep. One dark night, after we had all retired to
rest, we were awakened by continued whistling and ringing of bells. It
was in vain that we inquired of the guards and attendants as to what was
going on, for they, like their brethren all the world over, would give no
information. One thing, however, they could not hide from us, for we
found we were being taken across a viaduct one carriage at a time, and as
we crossed we could see lights moving about at a great depth below. On
arriving at Omaha, two days later, we found a full report of the
occurrence in the papers. It appears that the viaduct had been
discovered to be in an unsafe condition, some of its timbers having been
partially burnt, and it was a matter of discussion whether we should be
allowed to cross at all; it being ultimately determined, as I have said,
to take one car over at a time. Ours was the last train that went over,
for before daylight the whole structure had fallen with a tremendous
crash. The Indians were on the war-path at the time, and it was supposed
that the work of destruction was theirs. The railway here runs through
some of the most magnificent scenery in the world. Sometimes its course
lies through narrow valleys, or canons, where there is just room for the
railway and the river, sometimes through immense pine forests, and then
again on a mere shelf cut in the face of the granite mountain, until the
point called "Cape Horn" is reached. This is the turning-point between
east and west, and soon afterwards the greatest elevation is attained,
8,200 feet. About sixty miles of the more exposed portion of the road is
covered with sheds, to protect it from the snow. This result, however,
is not attained without considerable discomfort to the passengers, as the
carriages become filled with smoke and dust while passing through.
One of the passengers on our train was an old man who had not crossed the
country since he went out to the far west some twenty-six years
before--long before the railway had been thought of. The party with
which he then travelled was so large that it had to be split into
detachments for the convenience of pasturage. One night his section was
attacked by Indians, who killed several of the party and drove off most
of the horses and cattle. The old man had for many years been a trapper
in the Indian country and had invested his hard-won earnings in horses
which he was taking out west for the purpose of trade, and he was not
disposed to lose them all at one fell swoop without making a bold dash
for their recovery. His plan of operations was soon settled, and in the
evening he set off in pursuit with half-a-dozen picked men, each with his
rifle and a good store of ammunition. After some hours they came upon
the scent of the Indians, and moving cautiously forward amongst the
scrub, presently saw them around their fires busily engaged in dividing
the spoils of the morning. The trapper being a first-rate marksman, it
was agreed he should do all the firing, while the others loaded and
handed up the rifles as fast as required. Every shot told, and the
redskins, judging from the rapid firing that the whole party of white men
were upon them, made a regular stampede, leaving horses, and cattle, and
other spoil behind them. So, painfully marching on, they came at last to
the Mormon settlement and on to the Salt Lake City, where they were
subjected to the most cruel treatment at the hands of the "Saints."
These people told the travellers it was impossible to get to California
by the route they were taking, as the country was swarming with hostile
Indians, and they undertook to show them a better way by which they would
get there in fifteen days. Many suspected treachery, and a consultation
was held, which came to no definite conclusion, except in the case of one
man, who, in the heat of debate, was shot dead. It was ultimately
decided to adopt the Mormon advice, and as the route did not admit of
wagons, they tried to sell them to the "Saints," who, of course, would
not buy, knowing they would have them for nothing before long. Many of
the travellers burnt their wagons and harness rather than that the
Mormons should have them, but the majority abandoned theirs, and set out
without them. Instead of fifteen days the journey took thirty-nine, and
only a few survived it, most of the party dying by the way, either by the
hand of the Indians or from fatigue.
For about a thousand miles the railway is open to the prairie, the
consequence being that frequent accidents occur through cattle straying
upon the track. I counted more than twenty carcases of these
unfortunates in one day, and on one occasion, while sitting on the steps
of the Pullman car, I felt a sudden check, and immediately after the body
of a cow flew past. The herds are looked after by men with lassoes,
riding very fleet horses. American railroads being much less protected
from stray animals than those in England, the locomotives are provided
with an apparatus called a "cow-catcher," which consists of an iron
framework projecting in front and inclined downwards as near to the rails
as possible. The contrivance is successful in moving most living
obstacles from the track. For instance, when a cow gets between the
rails and sees the train approaching, it becomes dazed, and the iron
frame striking the lower portion of the legs takes it up readily. But
with a bull it is quite different: when his lordship sees his enemy
approaching he puts his chin down upon his fore-feet and waits the onset
with a confidence not by any means always misplaced, for in this position
his head and feet form a wedge which, becoming inserted beneath the iron
frame, frequently throws the engine back upon the train, causing serious
accidents. When at Ogden I saw the remains of a goods train which had
been wrecked in this way a week before, the engine drivers being killed,
also two stow-aways, or "dead-heads," as the Yankees call them, who had
secreted themselves under one of the carriages.
[Picture: Salt Lake]
Waking one morning we found ourselves in a most awfully desolate country,
with scarcely a sign of vegetation--a veritable dry and thirsty land,
through which we travelled all day. Towards evening we came to the
alkali country, and the plains looked as though they were covered with
snow. This is a fearful place, where, before the construction of the
railway, many poor emigrants have lain down to die. Soon after, we
skirted the margin of the Great Salt Lake and entered Brigham Young's
dominions, passing his first town, "Corinne." This town was founded by
the Gentiles after Brigham turned them out of the Salt Lake City, but he
soon drove them farther off.
We left the train at Odgen in order to pay a short visit to the Salt Lake
City, which is situated thirty-six miles off, and is approached by a
railway belonging to the Saints. For beauty of situation Salt Lake City
is almost unrivalled. It lies in a basin more than twenty miles in
diameter, and is surrounded by mountains, some of which are 12,000 feet
high, and most of them covered with perpetual snow. At the time of our
visit the fruit-trees were in full bloom, and, as each house is
surrounded by its garden, the city occupies a large extent of ground,
presenting a beautiful appearance from the United States camp, which
stands on an elevation commanding the whole city, about two miles off. A
portion of the old mud wall, about ten feet high, built by the Mormons to
resist the attack of the Indians, still remains standing. Several of the
houses are exceedingly well built, and the gardens kept in excellent
order; one in particular I was much struck with, and remarked to our
guide that it was the brightest and best kept place I had seen since
leaving England. He told me it belonged to an Englishman who had left
for his native country on the previous day. Curiously enough, when I
returned home, I found this man was a brother of my butcher, and was then
on a visit home. We observed two ladies sitting in the front of the
house engaged in needlework, and were told that they were the two wives
of the English Mormon. It was very noticeable that these ladies sat at a
considerable distance apart, cordiality (unless it be of hatred) not
being a characteristic of these Mormon wives in their relations with each
other. At the time of our visit the "Prophet" was down south, looking
out for a new location for the Saints, in view of the threatened
difficulties with the Central Government. We visited the Tabernacle, and
saw the preparations for the new temple, to which the deluded of all
nations continue to contribute, although it is exceedingly doubtful that
the building will be carried to completion. The man who showed us over
the Tabernacle used to work in a London factory; but he told us with a
curious twinkle in his eye that the "new job" paid him much the best. At
a short distance from the city there is a sulphur spring, of considerable
volume, proceeding from the side of the mountains; the temperature of the
water is such that eggs can be boiled in it. We slept at Ogden that
night in order to be in good time for securing places in the train going
east in the morning. When the hotel bill was presented I tendered
English gold in payment, having disposed of my U.S. currency. The
landlord refused to take it, saying, "He would not have the -- British
gold." I explained to him that I had no other money, but to no purpose,
so, as the train was almost due, I told him I would pay him when I came
that way again, but was not sure when that would be. He quietly said, "I
guess I'll take your gold," much to the amusement of the bystanders. At
the station here is a printed notice cautioning travellers to "BEWARE OF
BOGUS TICKET SELLERS."
For three days after leaving Ogden we travelled through the snow, passing
through a series of canons or gorges, which narrow at the base until
there is just room for the brawling stream which runs along the bottom.
The railway in such cases is either excavated on one side of the gorge or
carried on trestles over the stream. The rocks on the mountain sides,
mostly of red sandstone, are very bold and of strange shapes. Amongst
them is a very weird-looking group called "The Witches." Another group,
known as "The Buttes," bears a most striking resemblance to a line of
strong fortifications commanding the valley.
[Picture: Monument Rock]
We saw these at sunset, and the effect of the evening light upon the red
sandstone was very fine. In the same neighbourhood is the celebrated
Devil's Slide; it is formed by the earth being gradually washed away from
between two lines of vertical strata about 20ft. apart. It is some
hundreds of feet in length, and descends into the river. This valley was
the route taken by the Western Pioneers, and is marked here and there by
solitary graves with crosses at their heads.
[Picture: The Devil's Slide]
The whole 8,000 feet descent from the summit to the eastern plains is
made in about four hours. The steam is turned off, the brakes turned on,
and down we go. As we were preparing to descend I remarked to the negro
attendant that I supposed we must trust the engineer now? "No, sah,"
said Sambo, "I guess we must trust de ole man up above," pointing to the
skies.